After a few days’ research into an offside rule no one quite seems to understand, much less agree with, Villa will pick themselves up from the 0-2 defeat to City in their first post-Covid match, and look for a better return against struggling Newcastle and once-again-under-fire manager Steve Bruce.

As we’d expect and did see, Smith put a brave face on the squad’s fitness leading up to their trip to the Etihad, but there was clearly rust and fatigue on display. How could there not be? While City were rampant, if not quite clinical, they were fair value for the three points, despite a fairly heroic defensive display from Villa. Even if the opener was prised open in controversial fashion. Goals change games, and one can fairly wonder if a 0-0 wasn’t on the cards until the incident. But City were dangerous all night, and Villa didn’t quite have enough to really force the issue the way they’d have liked.

That’s the past, though. Well, not entirely, since Villa will be without John McGinn for a ludicrous fifth yellow, and Dean Smith won’t be on the touchline for cheekily asking the officials what they got for Christmas. Can’t quite see how that was worth a yellow, never mind two. Dean was understandably upset, and he hardly read anyone the riot act.

In the meantime, Villa have apparently agreed a deal with both Marseilles and Morgan Sanson. I doubt he’ll make his debut today, but we should probably see the deal completed over the next few days. Then I suppose there’ll the usual and silly work-permit holdup. You’d think they’d have a separate stack of forms readily at hand for football deals that they can just stamp.

It’s been an eventful week, all told. And now it’s back to football. All the talk is about who comes in for McGinn, of course. There are a number of calls for Ramsey, and unless Marvelous Nakamba is drafted in, you’d think that’s probably who we’ll see. Trezeguet has also finally returned, which will either delight or depress, depending. Me, it’s good for the side. Bertrand Traoré is undoubtedly technically gifted and a dangerous attacking player, but he’s still struggling to get his defensive responsibilities right. I saw a bit more graft against City, but there were also a fair few lackadaisical interludes. I doubt Trez will start, but Traoré is going to have to dial it up if he wants to keep his place.

As far as young Jacob goes, he had a hard time getting involved in his substitute appearance Wednesday. Not unusual, but if he is going to start, he’s got to get himself involved and do some dirty work.

Ollie, well, we’d desperately like to see him back on the scoresheet, and the quicker Barkley returns to form and fitness the better for everyone. When it comes to Matt Targett, Smith put his exit down to fatigue, and the player has since confirmed he did test positive. No mention has been made of his knee, which is what seemed to be the issue at the time. As usual, the team sheet will tell us shortly.

The barcodes? Well, it’s all sort of situation normal up north. Bruce is Bruce, they’ve got some injuries, the clock is ticking, and supporters are weighing up cabbages literal and figurative. Saint-Maximin has returned, which will help them, but one guesses he’s not likely to be a major factor tonight, at least not from the start. It’s been a long layoff. If he does any damage, you’d expect it comes as a sub. Leftback Paul Dummett has been ruled out.

I think the consensus is that Bruce will opt for a “physical” approach tonight: expect Jack & Co to take a few whacks. Ezri Konsa and Tyrone Mings will need to be wise to the long ball. And Villa may well have to be patient in creating breakthroughs.

Whatever Bruce has in mind, Villa will clearly like to get back to winning ways after a long period of misfortune on and off the pitch. With games still in hand, we can climb back in the top half on the day with three points, and give Frank something else to annoy him. Just as I’m sure we did with Pep “Fewer Games, Please” Guardiola, whose good fortune on Wednesday was tempered by the loss of both Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne.

The whinging from the top clubs is truly tiresome, though I must admit that hearing Klopp whinge about more and more is getting to be a little entertaining.

Anyway, here we are. With Burnley following at midweek, we’ve got a chance to tuck away a couple of results. Sean Dyche’s men have been better of late, and that one will also probably feature a lot of kicking, so it’s no sure thing.

But if we can get our legs back, we’re a better team than either of these two. Will we make that count? We find out soon enough.

Over to you.

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John Clark
John is co-owner of AVL, and has followed the Villa since the '70s. A journalist by trade, he is, by most accounts, a very nice person. You can follow me on Twitter @JClarkKohoutek. It's an astonishing experience. Or a complete waste of time.

Comments 284

  1. Frem

    Why is Marvelous starting over jacob Ramsey? Bizarre decision. We need Ramsey in this game l, not marvelous

    Watkins needs to score tonight amd just look better all round

  2. John Clark

    Ah, so he did opt for Nakamba.

    Well, Frem, I think it’s simply the defensive midfielder role. Not really Ramsey’s forte, and it allows Luiz and everyone to sort of work from the same organizational platform.

  3. John Clark

    Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett, Luiz, Nakamba, Traoré, Barkley, Grealish, Watkins.

    Notables on the bench: Ramsey, Davis, El Ghazi, and Trezeguet. Then Elmo, Taylor, Guilbert, and Engels go along with Heaton.

  30. John Clark

    Yeah, some good work on that one. Traoré’s got everything you want attacking. If he keeps working on the defensive side, he’ll be a helluva pick-up. Has an eye for goal, that’s for sure.

  31. John Clark

    And feel a lot better going in 2-0. The aerial assault will just continue, and you never know where’s it’s going to go.

    We’ve got more goals in us today, I think.

  32. Frem

    Sanson coming in to improves us

    Still think we need w left back better than Taylor

    We still need a striker

    Then it’s perfect really

  34. John Clark

    Ezri really is quality. Has grown so much. And like you said earlier, Frem, Marvelous looking more assured, better sense of where he should be, and where the outlet is.

  36. John Clark

    Night and day, Frem. I’m so much more pleased watching Villa now.

    I understand results, but results with flair, excitement, constant threat…much more appealing.

    You can draw up a typical Bruce game in your sleep.

  38. Mark King

    Frem how about look how far we have come since employing smith? Not that long ago him and his players were clueless according to a few posters, different gravy

  42. Mark King

    Frem your pretty clueless about what it takes to assemble a side and coach it to this standard. Take tonight , you could take jack off and we would play the same .

  49. Mark King

    Frem – shit happens mate we were never going to be like this overnight and a couple of long time prem teams went down after the COVID turned up, why didn’t they improve?

  55. Mark King

    Frem we will win the league and you will still be saying that, truth is we don’t know how it would of gone, that’s what played out and we stayed up , same for every team

  61. Frem

    As Carra just said, we can make top 4 as it’s one of those seasons

    That’s what we should be aiming for

    Sign a couple more quality and we can do it

  70. Mark King

    Frem- I’m renaming you mystic as apparently you can see alternative universes

    We March on , Newcastle used to cause us a lot of problems, we could of played the kids tonight .

  72. Frem

    Another good run out for Barkley. You can tell he’s way of the pace compared to his Liverpool display. Will do him good more minutes

  75. Ian

    Dammit Frem, if you can’t be even half assed positive you shouldn’t post. You’re the biggest Debbie Downer I’ve come across. Trez sat on the bench for ffing 90 minutes in the cold, coming off an eight game absence due to injury and you expect a fucking Messi moment. You didn’t see the rust on Barkley the other game but god fucking forbid complain about him. Give your head a shake.

  76. r0bb0

    Don’t know about anyone else, but I’m still unable to relax in games, even when we’re as dominant as we were today.
    My head tells me we’re a good side now and much better than the opposition, but my stomach is still all over the place!

  79. r0bb0

    The players coming back in today did look a bit rusty, which is to be expected, so it’s great that they could get a bit of game time on a day that we were dominant and won easily.
    Jack was pissed off about being substituted but I’m sure he’ll soon realise that the squad has benefitted from the substitutions.

  81. VillaMD

    Great win. I think we could have gone up a couple of levels if needed. Cash, Konsa and Targett are total quality.

    Would have liked Louie Barry on the bench and let him unleashed for last 15mins vs Watkins that again ran himself into the ground. We need to be careful with Ollie as his runs are a key and we’re asking too much from him playing 90mins of every game.

    I thought Ramsey was quality when he came on. Very elegant player. Marvelous had his best game for Villa. Happy days!

  82. VillaMD

    With the way Villa play, Barry is ideal. Small fast striker that will run direct. Davis is the opposite, more of a hold up player to bring others in

  83. Frem

    VillaM. Exactly. Watkins needs to come off. He becomes useless in last 15 minutes of games. We need to use Davis more

    Ian. No not Messi but he’s a professional football player. He came on, made an awful attempt at a cross. Missed control the ball in a good scoring are and then missed a sitter late on. He just isn’t very good and wasn’t even before his injury. He was missing sitters back then to

    We need a better upgrade sqaud player like Santon for Hourihane.. It’s time for trezeguet to depart and someone else come in

    We want European football. We need better

  84. Frem

    Barry should be in the sqaud for sure. He’s an unbelievable talent banging goals in. He doesn’t miss chances

    I’m really pleased for Marvelous tonight. He hasn’t played all season and looked like he played every minute this season

  85. Frem

    Marvelous Nakamba misplaced just one of his 65 passes against Newcastle.

    Direct hit 64/65 Passes Completed
    Bar chart 98.5% Pass Accuracy

    He also made more ball recoveries than any other Aston Villa player (8).

  87. r0bb0

    Frem, you’re right that Nakamba was really solid tonight. Does it start to give you confidence that:
    A) Dean Smith is a good manager and is able to bring out the best in players
    B) with players coming through the youth ranks and existing players improving. . . . . we have a decent, and improving bench

    It seems that we’ve signed Samson which should add a bit more strength and hopefully Wesley will be back in March.

    Grounds for optimism?

  88. VillaMD

    Frem,

    Yeah, Marvelous was great. We should now feel comfortable swapping Marvelous, Luiz, and SJM. Any of those 2 are great so let’s rotate.

    Barkley still way off the pace. I would love to see Ramsey get a run of games, as he looks class.

    I watched 1st half of Swansea. Hourihane was tidy with one touch passes, but nothing great. However, on free kicks and corners – wow, unreal left foot.

  89. r0bb0

    Mark, I do now look forward to games, believing that we can win, and in games like tonight’s that we ‘will’ win, but when we get into the heat of the game, the old nerves still come back.
    What’s great is that doesn’t seem to be the case for our team any more!

  90. VillaMD

    I’d agree with Frem that our current main weakness is backup striker. We should let Davis out on loan and see if he can score in the championship and stay fit for 1/2 a season. I don’t think Wesley will be match fit until next season based on DS comments. So we only have Barry, who’s not even training with 1st team squad.

  91. Ian

    Frem, the man is trying too hard to produce and it’s obvious he wears Aston Villa on his chest. He needs to settle down that’s all. It will come for him.

  93. r0bb0

    It’s testament to the management that, based on last night’s performance, Nakamba has improved so much that we hardly noticed that McGinn wasn’t there. Ok, Newcastle weren’t the toughest opponents we’ll meet, but Smith was able to substitute the whole attacking midfield too.
    Ok, Jamie Redknapp doesn’t have the experience or footballing knowledge of Frem, but he also commented on the growing strength in depth of the squad which enables Dean Smith to bring on a player like Trezeguet as a substitute.

    Of course it would be nice to have another quality striker available immediately but what are the chances of being able to pick up a striker of Watkins quality and work ethic in January?

  94. Frem

    Robbo. It doesn’t have to be a big signing striker.. We just need someone better than Davis who Smith actually trusts to bring on.

    Imagine if Watkins picks up an injury? Then what? We would be fucked really.

    Davis definitely needs to go on loan and get football under his belt.

  95. Frem

    Ian I think there has ti become a point where its not just because he’s working to hard, unfortunately he just doesn’t have they ability required. Traore has shown him up getting nearly as many goals and assists already then Trezeguet all last season and this one.. His miss yesterday was shocking, on top of his ones against West ham and Brighton. Its not a one off occasion anymore is it?

    Id love us to get a decent striker, winger and left back this month

  96. r0bb0

    Frem. . . .so how much do you think we should spend this January on a striker?

    ps. Trezeguet’s shot shortly after coming on was not a shocking miss
    pps. Traore’s goal went in off the underside of the crossbar. If it had been an inch higher, would it have switched from being a wondergoal to a shocking miss?

  97. Frem

    Robbo.No. Traore had no right to score really. Itsa great finsih. Trez though should have scored with absolute ease

    Maybe 10 million could get us a decent striker from abroad. Lange must have lots of decent strikers who’d improve our bench for a decent price

  98. Frem

    For the amount of chances we create we should be scoring more goals also, that’s why i think we need a better winger ans striker than our back up players are

    We create 12.2 chances per 90, mors than anyone esle

    So more quality attackers would make us even better

  99. Frem

    Barry is a brilliant finisher

    Imagine if that chance falls to him that fell trezeguet? He scores that all day long. He should be in our sqaud

  100. r0bb0

    Frem. You still seem to think that you know better than Dean Smith. Remember this is the man that you wanted to see sacked not very long ago. Do you ever admit (even if only to yourself) that you are often wrong?
    Do you find it hard to apologise?

  101. Frem

    Robbo. Most Villa fans would have sacked Dean Smith before lock down. We were absolutely dreadful up to that point. Alot of people forget that. Last season we were absolutely dreadful.

    Our last game was 4-0 defeat to Leicester after defeats to Southampton and Bournemouth. Most would have got rid of Smith and we would have gone down if it wasn’t for covid

    Trezeguet just isn’t good. His stats are absolutely dreadful

  102. Frem

    Smith talks about numbers alot and grealish getting numbers up on goals and assists.. Forward players should. Traore has good numbers. Ghaizi has good numbers. Jack does. Trez doesn’t

    We need better

  103. Frem

    Smith was being called to be replaced even after 4 games returning after lock down and nobody would have cared if he was sacked or said it wasn’t deserved

    It was only they last 6 games we turned it around

  104. Frem

    But what smith has done since the last 6 games of the return has been excellent.

    We are tactically so switched on now. Something last season we absolutely weren’t

  105. runtings

    It just shows that fans do not know the job of running Aston villa better than the club and current staff
    Marvellous was almost our best player apart from konzo slightly better.. I wasn’t expecting to say that and have had major doults re marv staying at villa for too much longer … yet another buy from last season that now looks a completely different and fabulous player in the space of a year

    Re buying a striker not even citeh have w3 senior strikers and even with injuries they are not panicking … you cant just keep buying players and you need balance with a little room to allow your youth to come through .. we play one up top there and have adaptable players so don’t disturb this group too much

    Trez is trying too hard and you can see his hunger to make an impact with his timing and quality not quite being there but my money is on him to become a big part of any success this season i hear clubs are cueing up for him but deano is not in the slightest interested in letting him go and while he isn’t as good toure neither is any other attacker apart from jack

  106. runtings

    if Smith had been sacked at any point since his arrival I would’ve been shocked however our owners are clever and very successful people so I am pretty sure it hasn’t been on the cards up to this point … Deano apart from the owners is the best thing to happen to villa in a long time

  107. runtings

    critics of the game was mings who I feel is in danger of losing his place to Hause if he can keep himself fit ..our two young centre backs may well have developed into our current best

  108. Mark King

    Mystic Frem- surely the fact that lots of Villa fans would of sacked Smith tells you lots of Villa fans haven’t got fucking clue about football? You don’t become miraculously good over night without a lot of hard work consistently over time.

    Smith was given a totally unproven side in his 1st prem season. Not a proven side from another manager that he could work with but a brand new never before seen side, mistakes were made and lessons learnt but overall they have proven to be sound choices over time once settled.

    As for it was only because of the covid we stayed up? look at Southampton who are a good side, last season they were thrashed 9-0 which proved a turning point, Leicester beating us 4-0 proved to be the last straw for us and we began defending 1st which took about 6 games to bear fruit. Shit happens in life and football its how you deal with it that matters.

  109. Mark King

    On the players, I thought Newcastle were poor for starters but.

    when Traore is given time and space and little defensive work to do he can hurt teams, said it before but he’s yet to do it against the better sides, hopefully he will get there and hopefully Smith has him working on that Right foot, he has the potential to be special. Last night most of the damage he did was on the left of centre more than the right.

    Marv I have always thought would come good and he kept it simple, I hope he can step up a level and be more adventurous at times because a CB can have a 100% passing rate just passing it to his partner and the keeper, again Newcastle probably the worst side I have seen this season but he looked very good regardless. Luis? did he play?

    Jack didn’t get out of second gear and was getting ratty, played his part as usual but wasn’t the stand out and didn’t need to be which is pleasing.

    Barkley decent enough but just not fit enough yet which is a worry, not sure if we would miss him or not, particularly with Sansom coming in.

    Trez still rates higher than Traore statistically despite not scoring 7.01 to 6.91 🙂 he is playing on the right which is not his preferred position. He will be given game time particularly against the better sides. Like Runtings said he is trying to hard, if one goes in off his arse it will help. Wish he has been fit when Jack played at ten and we could of had him out left.

    The defence and Keeper? what can you say they have gone from awful to awesome and I agree Mr Mings is looking the weak link, whether its because he believes his own hype I don’t know, he needs to do things quickly and take risks his skill level will allow. On the up side he is a talker, once Konsa gets to that point he will be the much better player. Targett just keeps on growing which highlights Mings weaknesses on that side. I used to think it was down to Targett and it probably was to a large extent now the tables turned.

    Burnley up next and they have just done the champs, will be a tough game but I expect 3 points.

  110. Frem

    It doesn’t matter what the circumstances were regarding new players etc

    We weren’t winning . We were going down if it wasn’t for covid

    Smith could have easily been sacked and nobody would have moaned or said it wasn’t deserved…

    But he’s been brilliant since lock down

    We are an absolutely proper football side now

  112. r0bb0

    Frem, you said: “Smith was being called to be replaced even after 4 games returning after lock down and nobody would have cared if he was sacked or said it wasn’t deserved”

    I think you must surely know that statement was made up nonsense.

    Yes there were some fans crying into their security blankets and asking for Sam Allardyce to be brought in but there was also a realistic acceptance from many that last season was bound to be a tough one after DS engineered a faster promotion from the championship than anybody expected.

    I’m trying to decide if you say these things to try and get a response. . . .if so, then maybe you’re not daft after all. . . cause it works! 🙂

    Getting rid of players and managers at the first sign of them having a dip in form or making tactical errors is a road to disaster. There are plenty of Man United fans who wanted to get rid of Solskjaer . . . .most have gone very quiet now, although to their credit, a few have been mature enough to come out and apologise for getting it wrong.

    If you DO actually believe all the things you say then I do hope that you’re less fickle in your personal relationships

  113. r0bb0

    Frem, you also say: “Smith could have easily been sacked and nobody would have moaned or said it wasn’t deserved…”

    the key people in this. . .the owners clearly thought that it wasn’t deserved. They could indeed have brought in Big Sam (or one of the other ‘survival specialists’) but we’re in good hands and they have the knowledge and patience to plan for the long term

  114. r0bb0

    Mark,

    You commented about Traore and I must admit that I had my doubts (and voiced them) but he’s confounding them week by week. Yesterday he was putting in a real shift and becoming valuable in defence as well as attack which brought several smiles to my face.
    You’re right that Newcastle weren’t great yesterday and we need to see him do the same against better teams but yesterday showed that he appreciates that to play in a Villa shirt these days means more than just flouncing up and down the wing. Dean Smith seems to know how to engender passion and commitment in all the players and if they don’t show it. . . .they won’t be playing for us.

  115. r0bb0

    Dean Smith said that he’d taken Jack off to avoid him getting another yellow card which may well have been the real reason.
    Jack wasn’t having his best game and that would have been frustrating him and may have led to him doing something silly towards the end of the game when he may have been getting a bit tired too.
    He (and Targett) now need to survive the next two games to be able to relax a bit on that score.

  116. Paul Pears

    Good result yesterday, but just like r0bb0, I still am on the edge of the seat during the game, even when the opposition are as poor as the Toons. There were a couple of odd moments that could have gone wrong, and we could have been punished by a better side. However, our defence has become so solid, and Konsa and targett have made a huge difference in their play. Mings , as MK says needs to tighten up his defensive play.
    MK, agree with your summary of the players, including the rust on Barkley and Trezeguet, but the minutes yesterday will make a big difference.
    I really enjoyed the Cheltenham Town game yesterday, where Man City really struggled until the 75th minute, like Liverpool against Burnley, and both with the most expensive forward lines in the country, yet they can’t score…….Take note Frem!!!!!
    On the other hand, I would love to see Ramsey, Barry and a few more of our youngsters get a chance, when you see Phil Foden such an outstanding player yesterday, and only 19 years old. Yesterday could have been an ideal chance to give them a few minutes. I am sure as the season progresses that Dean will take those opportunities.

  117. Frem

    Robbo. People wanted him out even after a few games returning. We still looked poor until we beat Palace. We were in the prem and we should have done everything to stay there.

    Mark l. The owners were happy to go back down. It doesn’t mean Smith should not have been sacked at some point last season. Just because they didn’t sack him doesn’t mean he shouldn’t have.. If he was nobody would have said it was unfair

  118. Frem

    Anyway

    Steve Bruce. What an awful awful manager that man is

    I know how Newcastle fans feel withy the football they play l.. It was like that at Villa

  119. Paul Pears

    Burnley is going to be a really tough game on Tuesday, and we are going to be very aware of how physical they are, and can we afford to lose players. Last season we lost both Heaton and Wesley to long term injuries, and Mee was lucky to stay on the pitch.
    I am sure that Dean will drum into players to be careful, but an injury to jack Grealish could be a season changer. He needs to be so careful drawing fouls against the likes of Mee. He cannot rely on the officials to protect him. Mings will also have to be careful because he could also easily be drawn into seeing the red mist if there is some rough play.
    Tuesday is probably the most difficult game we have to face in the coming weeks. I am far happier facing the rest.
    James Bree doing ok for Luton Town so far, and Hourihane did ok for his 75 minutes yesterday for Swansea, wearing his favourite 14 shirt!!

  120. Mark King

    Frem- Thats bollcocks, doesn’t matter they were all new? what planet are you on. And I for one would of kept Smith regardless, he got us up probably a season to early and now has us half way there, relegation did not happen and it was down to Smith, get over it mate or you will be spouting the same crap when we win the league.

  122. runtings

    Again Mark I have to totally disagree with your views on Toure , did he not score against man u who are I believe are a big side .. he has 4 goals in 6 games and is a new player to the group and yes he has to learn the defensive side which is and will improve but blimey is there any signing from that window in the prem doing as much as him massive upgrade for the club

  123. Paul Pears

    The majority of fans have supported Dean Smith ever since his appointment, but there is always a significant minority of key board warriors on social media who spout there opinion, which they are entitled to, at the same time showing their lack of knowledge for how things work.

    It is like the people who always point to the Sheffield game where technology helped us, but ignore the number of other occasions where we were robbed of the correct decision in games. They need to get over it. we are in the Premiership, and we are here to stay for a very long time once more!

  124. John Clark

    Ah…the happy sounds after a win. Things are going well.

    All I can say is thank fuck Compass didn’t sack Smith. They stuck with him, he rewarded their faith, and here we are. And while we can speculate that Villa would’ve gone down without Covid, we also have to remember that the compressed schedule, etc., did not look good for Villa going into Restart. We also have to remember we lost SJM, Wesley, and Heaton. In a threadbare squad pulled together overnight, that was an awful lot to overcome.

    However it happened, it happened. And we now see that Smith is an excellent manager. Players are improving, the squad is clicking to the style and responsibilities, and you can look at Villa and say, “That’s how we play,” and neutrals and pundits are quite enjoying Smith’s brand of football.

  125. Paul Pears

    I certainly have been impressed with the speed and vision of Traore, and how quickly he is now settling in the team, with his scoring and assists improving every game, while he is still learning his defensive duties, he has still managed to make some outstanding recoveries.

  126. John Clark

    On Nakamba…He did indeed look much more assured. Like Ghazi and others who’ve been sidelined, he’s obviously been working hard in training, getting good instruction. The results showed on the pitch. He knew where to be and when, knew where his passes would be. Knew when to play it safe, knew when to take it and turn.

    It’s worth bearing in mind that City may very well take Luiz back. That won’t be missed by anyone at Villa, so investing in Nakamba I’m sure has been a priority. We might well be able to go out and get a better replacement, but if Nakamba can step up (and he’s probably been told exactly this), he may earn that spot and allow us to spend elsewhere.

  128. VillaMD

    PP,

    Agree that Burnley match will be very physical. Would be ideal game for Engels to mark Wood, but I can’t see Engels wearing a Villa shirt again.

    Ramsey was only on for a few minutes yesterday, but he looks such an elegant player. DS is starting to have some tough decisions for who to start in midfield! There’s so much competition now, and then add Sanson!

  129. Paul Pears

    The most outstanding thing this season, has been thee amazing improvement in players like Hause, Nkamba, El Ghazi and Traore when they were not part of the first team. It shows just how much work has been put in by the coaches and players each week, which is going to be the major difference to our squad in the future.

  130. John Clark

    PP, et al…

    Yeah, Traoré’s showing why we bought him. One thing that’s becoming more visible is his intelligence in switching up play, he hit more than a couple good crossfield balls yesterday.

    He has good instincts, and linking up with Jack like that showed just how much more integrated he’s becoming. Lovely one-touch passing, as well.

    When people are slating Trez (not you, PP), if nothing else, remember what we’ve done with him in the squad, regardless of his personal stats/conversions, etc., and think about the time that bought for Traoré to settle in.

  131. Paul Pears

    All the information on Sansom, makes it look like he will become a perfect understudy to Jack Grealish, which is what we desperately need. Originally it looked like it might be O’hare, but Dean Smith in the end, decided he wasn’t quite the right fit.

  133. runtings

    Frem I do recall you calling for deano’s head and for big Sam to come in ..I thought it was not the wisest idea at the time so nothing has change ,, which manager would do better than smith has over the last couple of years he has been here

    what the fans that ever thought it was time to sack smith need to learn is that going from a laughing stock in football to a top side is a process with sometimes painful steps its not just going to happen over night

  135. Paul Pears

    Trezeguet’s biggest improvement came initially, playing on the right with Elmo, because he did not speak the language, and this does make a huge difference. Learning the language has made the big difference to Douglas Luiz, and now he can communicate well.
    One of the biggest mistakes Villa made with Tim Sherwood, was having a manager who refused to speak the same language as his new players, and using an interpreter. He may have got a lot more out of them.

  137. John Clark

    runtings,

    100% agree. Pulling together a side and surviving like that was virtually miraculous in today’s game. There were so many players to replace it was unreal, and the budget dictated a certain average spend. Never mind losing the club’s record signing who was himself a complete project with no PL experience.

    There had to be belief for Restart to succeed. It may have been by the skin of our teeth, but Deano had the players onside to take the lessons on board, make changes, and give it their all. In the end, they *deserved* to stay up because they adapted and fought like hell for it.

  138. Plug

    Stoked as always after 3 points. But there is a caveat, the Wai Ayes were awful. Spud has pretty well wrecked them and their fans must be desolate. We know the feeling.

    It should have been a bigger score, but I’m not complaining. The question now is…….what position do we think we can end up with this season? One game at a time. My favourite ground and supporters up next. Hope we batter them.

  139. Mark King

    Runtings somehow I knew you would disagree about Traore 🙂 yes scored against Man utd but let Shaw run at Cash all game and we lost.

    So I stand by what I am saying, he has nice touches etc but against top sides he is to one footed and a good defender with show him the outside all day. it will be pointed out by opposition managers. Defo not as effective against the better sides. Thats not to say scoring and assisting against poorer sides is bad, he just gets more time and space.

    Haven’t all the players brought in this season done well? they have created and added to a decent platform , even the poorer players from last season have done well. I don’t think he is bad player by a long shot just has some glaring holes in his game right now, also played in this league for Chelsea so settling should be less problematic.

    The number of times he has had clear space in behind his fullback and come back because he is poor on his right foot is frustrating and I want him to improve that for Villas and his own sake just as I want Trez to improve, this season has shown they all can.

    As PP and others have pointed out he is trying to improve his defensive work, fair enough, he’s a bit light weight and that can be sorted in the gym. Do I think he wasn’t worth buying ? no way.

  140. Mark King

    JC- Considering that the budget was limited Its pretty amazing that the vast majority have turned out good punts and useful to Smiths game plan. Wes I think will provide another dimension when back if injury hasn’t scuppered him.

  142. r0bb0

    Frem: “Robbo. People wanted him out even after a few games returning.”

    Yes, I admit that you weren’t alone. Sadly there were others who similarly lacked the necessary footballing knowledge and patience.

    To paraphrase a Scottish proverb: Be slow in choosing a manager but slower in changing him

    I like this comment by Carl Honore: “Charles Darwin described himself as a slow thinker. Einstein famously sat in his office … gazing into the middle distance for hours on end … in the intellectual world and the arts, people have always understood the power of looking slowly at the big picture.”

    Happily, we finally seem to have owners with both the knowledge and patience that we’ve been lacking for so long.

    It’s easy to rush to judgement and make the wrong decision and here’s another nice quote from Paulo Coelho:
    “Why is patience so important?”
    “Because it makes us pay attention.”

    or if you’re more of a Bruce Lee man:
    “Patience is not passive, on the contrary it is concentrated strength”

    Frem, We have owners and a management team who know what they’re doing. Do yourself (and us) a favour and just try to be a teeny bit patient.
    Finally, to paraphrase another quote:
    Stop worrying so much about the potholes in the road and try to enjoy the journey.

  143. r0bb0

    John, You’re right that we deserved to stay up because “they adapted and fought like hell for it”

    Dean Smith and the players carried on believing when many of us (myself included I’m afraid) had given up. That’s two seasons in row where that self belief achieved what had looked to be impossible.

    I’ve said before that I think European football would be a step too far for us later this year, but I bet they’re not thinking like that . . . .and they’re the ones who matter.

  144. Heroes-and-Villans

    Frem

    The sane villa fans I know never wanted Deano out even if relegated.

    Toure has scored 3 class goals on his right foot 🙂 he is growing into some bloody player. Balance pace and crazy skills. Not sure anyone can stop in in full flow! Has real class about his play. 17 mill. Wow

  145. Heroes-and-Villans

    I must admit to being one of the few it seems didn’t enjoy the game! I struggle watching us live as too nervous but thought we were pretty poor especially second half. Nice game to get fitness in though. Barkley is way off it. Agree with the above someone said about Ramsey. Looked really classy when on.

  146. runtings

    Mark its a bit of a contradiction to say Traore cant cut it v big clubs yet he has the only one that scored against man u

    He is one our forwards and already outscoring everyone else he will not have the defensive side of deans system locked after a couple of months but he of course will get there if he improves as much as all the other buys have in the course of a year then we have an absolute monster …. he is twice the player of trez with all due respect don’t get how you don’t see it yet

  148. John Clark

    Yeah, PP, never involved in training (though didn’t he say “Let’s play football” before ignoring everything else?), and completely resistant to details. Like real fitness, using film, or getting everyone together for breakfast on matchday, the pregame sessions, all of it.

  149. VillaMD

    I’m not sure it’s fair to be having a dig at Frem over DS. I don’t think any of us could have imagined the improvement at Villa Park in under a year. Everyone wanted DS to succeed as he’s Villa.

    When our youth players played against’pool in cup, there were 7 U23’s that couldn’t play as they were training with the 1st team. So we easily have 2 full teams for training. I think this and Shakespeare is why players like Nakamba can slot straight in.

  150. John Clark

    H&V,

    I agree. I thought we’d go on to win 3- or 4-0, and didn’t. I’m pretty certain that’s down to fatigue from the layoff. Which is why Smith played most of them a long time, then freshened up a bit.

    Ross needs minutes. He looked better than against City, but still off the pace, as you say.

    With the right recovery, we should look sharper against Burnley. I’d have said beforehand it’ll take us 4-6 matches to get back to where we were.

    And like a couple others, I’ll admit to not being entirely comfortable yesterday. The thing with Bruce Ball is that it only requires a slip-up or lapse in concentration for a fairly innocuous situation to go wrong. Given our energy levels, I was concerned that if they’d clawed one back and got some fight in them, we’d have been hard-pressed to respond.

  151. John Clark

    VillaMD,

    Frem’s not alone, no. Patience in football is hard, given the prospect of relegation and how it’s gotten increasingly harder to go down, come back and then stick again.

    For me, I’ve just always thought Dean is good. The things he says, where he focuses…I know he knows what’s going on, what’s lacking, etc. I think he knows the players’ strengths and weaknesses, and how much room for improvement they’ve got. So, I was never in the sack-him camp because I just didn’t think we’d get anyone better in who’d somehow get a better response.

    To Mark’s point, I think yeah, we came up strangely with a poorly assembled side, and while that was a bit miraculous it needed another miracle because getting up was a miracle. Which is funny, because we had to get up to keep Jack. Jack carried us on that 10-game win streak, carried us last year. So we had to get promoted ‘too soon’ to keep him, then he’s what kept us up when he was all we really had after the rebuild.

  152. r0bb0

    VillaMD: “I’m not sure it’s fair to be having a dig at Frem over DS. ”

    If Frem ever showed any indication that he accepted he had made a mistake
    If he had once ‘suggested’ that maybe Dean Smith’s Role should be up for discussion then I’d agree with you.
    Instead, he always states his opinions as firm facts; he repeats them endlessly and he is reluctant to ever admit to his mistakes

    So. . . . .I think it’s perfectly fair to have a dig. . . he brings it on himself.

  153. Mark King

    Runtings its not a contradiction, its an observation and one goal put on a plate? come on. He weakens the left side against the top clubs defensively, and is less effective attacking wise than against the poorer sides, he usually is the 1st player subbed in those matches. I don’t know how you can’t see that. I am well up for him being twice the player , I wait with baited breath.

  154. Mark King

    JC- It has been all about Jack for a while now but the games after lockdown he didn’t come good until the last maybe 3 games, the players that kept us up at that point with goals etc were the likes of Hourihane, Trez, Hause and a few others. We really didn’t have a forward that scored either, someone must be looking out for us.

  155. Mark King

    Can’t wait to see what Sansom can bring, I’m sure at some point there will be a time when things go pete tong, right now it appears to be our time.

  156. VillaMD

    JC/R0bb0,

    Ok fair comments. That’s why this blog site is the best

    My history of DS….I thought he did unreal to get us promoted. Before lockdown I had doubts that he could keep us up and even thought we should have got Wilder when we appointed Smith. Time has shown how wrong I was to doubt DS. Nothing makes me happier than to have been wrong as I did waver for a few months

    I guess it’s easy to be positive now, with us playing brilliant football and DS on a journey that could put him in the same bracket as Pep and Klopp. We deserve to be happy as God knows we have suffered.

    MK – thanks for posting that article on Konsa a while back. Great to read how DS made him watch videos of Paul McGrath and Rio, and we can see the benefit. I too still have doubts about Mings making a silly mistake per game. He’s go laid back, I’d prefer if he got rid of the ball and not overthink the perfect pass.

  157. VillaMD

    MK,

    It’s Sanson not Sansom 🙂

    It will take time to settle. Maybe he can be up to speed in 2 months, but I think he’s a signing for next year. Much prefer Ramsey brothers to get a run

  158. runtings

    ok MK well I can agree that he isn’t up to speed defensively but nothing else on the player so we will have agree to disagree
    watched some YouTube Sanson highlights good age seems all action … whatever the case I fully trust in what the club are doing

  159. r0bb0

    VillaMD, you’ve owned up to wanting Wilder and I’ll own up to supporting Bruce for too long.
    I must admit I hadn’t imagined that Dean Smith would give up his Brentford job for us but he must have thought that the chance may not come around again in a hurry and must also have been enthused by the ambition that was presented to him by the owners.
    Watching the game yesterday did throw into sharp contrast the team we used to be . . . . and the team we are now.

  160. VillaMD

    R0bb0,
    Bruce – really 🙂 I was delighted when he got the Villa job and in fairness he steadied the sinking ship at the time. He’s a nice person and I don’t condone the stupid fan that hit him with a cabbage.

    Smith is sharp as he has quality management under him. Also the owners are quality. Obviously Sawiris from Egypt (Trez and Elmo land Frem, hint, hint be nice) is the majority owner and could have bought Villa on his own but he was smart enough to bring in Edens who knows about owning sports teams

  161. runtings

    I was one that never wanted Bruce or RDM along with many others before as I believe in having managers with a more new age progressive style of play . Smith overachieved cutting his teeth as a manager and managed to sort us out to rise from14th to the prem in half a season

    Thinking about the total mess that was Aston villa the club scrambled a new squad together and in was a struggle but I could never blame Smith for that myself …. if we had gone down we would have come back stronger but instead we are now ruffling the so called big boys

  163. Mark King

    The reason I wanted Smith is he has a clear philosophy, believes in getting players that are receptive to learning, plus he knows Brentford’s secrets which doesn’t hurt. I was never going to call for his head if the likes of Bruce can bumble along for nearly 3 seasons smith deserves some time. I must admit I am amazed he has turned what was a mess around so quickly. I think it speaks volumes for his managerial ability that he knows how to install a great working environment and feel good factor. Bruce was all about feel good without direction for me hence his clubs hit a cup de sac .

  164. Mark King

    Runtings mate I’m not getting at Traore it’s just where I believe he’s at, we are building a team that works for each other beyond individual skills. Jack is the ultimate evidence of that, Traore will get there he just isn’t there yet. I think Sanson has that already installed, I’m thinking a Taylor type midfielder .

  165. Heroes-and-Villans

    yeah toure has more to come but the exciting thing is seeing plain as day what he has. He oozes class. That goal was a thing of beauty. The way he took the defender out to play it to Jack then go on to get one two. superb. beating a man and playing the simple ball is effortless to him. Very very excited about what he can become, all the natural ablity in the world. Should expect better tracking back comsidering he played wing back!

  166. Heroes-and-Villans

    Toure Barkley Gealish
    Watkins

    What an absoulute nightmare those 4 are for any defence! Watkins will run the backline all day and the 3 behind can all travel with the ball, beat a man, score and pass!

  167. Heroes-and-Villans

    what is mad about the prem and makes it so tough is how close it can be. We are naturally delighted with our first good season with no drama in 10 years but if we lost to toon who have been terrible and are in turmoil they would of been only 4 points off us!!!

    It all starts again next season! really west ham, saints, everton, palace, leeds, villa, arsenal you could throw a blanket over, very hard to predict.

  168. Mark King

    H&V – 27 goal difference between us and Newcastle 🙂

    Fat Frank has got the chop I wonder who is in line? considering they are one below us on the same points having played 2 more games seems a bit harsh as they are a young side. Wonder if they will be in for Bruce?

  171. Mark King

    vivavilla- I don’t know I’m quite chuffed, particularly the bit about plant based/low carbon food which is a pile of dogs doo doo. Clearly its not doing the players any harm 😉

  174. r0bb0

    Vivavilla. Seeing that table is the first time I have felt ashamed of my club for a while.
    Hopefully our management will do something to address it

  175. Mark King

    Robbo- I would save your hand ringing I don’t think the worlds top clubs are contributing a great deal to worry about, Jack probably put his orange juice container in the wrong bin before they threw it all in the same hole. Put it this way the BBC put out countless shows of drivel on tele which uses loads of electric and causes pollution because people buy tele’s etc by the bucket load for each square inch of wall they have.

    For all we know we could come 20th in the world and lets not forget if your clubs successful it means your on the gogglebox more and watched by people around the world, I didn’t see a category for coal burnt per viewer. Just think during Covid they have put the lot on 🙂

  176. Ian

    The greening of the league surely started with Forest Green Rovers. 100% sustainable or damn close to it. They even have their players on a vegan diet plan and also all the food sold at the games is vegan.
    I heard about them a couple of years ago with their efforts and have kept an eye out for them. From National League to close to promotion to League One. And Mark, they don’t eat meat!
    Check out their website, you’ll be surprised how far they’ve gone to being sustainable.

  178. r0bb0

    Mark,
    My usual instinct is to try hard to continually look at research from both sides of an argument but having followed this very closely for over 40 years, the overwhelming body of evidence is that the climate change observed over recent decades is real and is almost certainly driven by the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

    Anyone who has children or grandchildren should be deeply concerned about the likely impacts on their way of life if we fail to make the necessary changes. We’re not just talking about our summers being a bit warmer, we’re talking about failing food and water supplies in some countries, leading to thirst, starvation and huge pressure from climate driven migration of populations.

    The evidence is so strong that the tiny chance that it has been misinterpreted has to be ignored because the impact of the changes will be so dramatic.

    We all have a responsibility to do our bit to reduce our own impact and Governments, companies other organisations must also take a lead.
    Getting back to Villa, it seems that little has been done so far and that needs to change.

  179. r0bb0

    Ian, I hadn’t seen that about Forest Green Rovers . . . . . what a brilliant example of what can be done.
    Many believe that it isn’t possible to perform at the highest level on a vegan diet . . try telling that
    to Venus Williams and Lewis Hamilton.
    I’ll admit to struggling to be totally vegan although it’s getting easier all the time.

    I’ve done my best to reduce the carbon impact of any business I’ve been involved with and found that most of the positive changes we made actually made us more profitable too!
    Over recent years, at the business sustainability events that I attended, it became clear that the message was getting through to most large businesses which makes it even more shaming that Villa seem not to care.

  180. r0bb0

    I see that Forest Green Rovers are based in the village of Nailsworth in Gloucestershire and when they were promoted to League 2, this made Nailsworth (population 5800) the smallest town ever to host a Football League club.
    Currently second in league 2, this shows that acting sustainably is the way to go!

  181. Ian

    Perhaps some of the monies generated from the Premier League and Sky Sports should go to help promote the clubs at the far end of the scale. After all those players are potentially prem stars.

  182. Mark King

    Ian/ Robbo whether global warming is as bad as claimed or even a bad thing is up for grabs, we already produce masses of food and cold is a bigger threat to that. CO2 may play a part but there is evidence/science that once at a certain saturation level is reached it has no further warming effect. It is also greening the planet as its plant food, my garden has gone hay wire last two summers from extra sun too.

    My beef is not with trying to do things cleaner its with the technology we are trying to employ. Electric cars produce 11-28% more C02 over its lifetime than a diesel car. From mining the metals required to production of batteries and the charging of potentially millions of cars, its a dead duck with present technology. Green tech for producing electric is also pretty lame, Germany are having to buy in energy having gone green. Switching to green power will likely kill millions either way.

    Ah Vegans, never in the history of mankind has there been a plant only eating populace. Vegans are at a higher risk for low bone density too, ok when you are young and your body will cope for a while, optimum? not a chance. Much is made about plant anti-oxidants but they are not compatible with our bodies, they instead cause oxidation which prompts our own bodies to produce indigenous anti oxidants the main one being glutathione. I would love to see any of you go out into the wild and live of plants alone, good luck.

    As this and that person is vegan? so many of them have been caught out having a sneaky bit of meat or fish. Also the average person does not have a Dietician and a chef sorting out their meals every hour of the day, to put Lewis Hamilton as an example of a vegan? without the various protein powders, B12 etc its not viable, its a made up modern diet, more about ideology than reality.

    the Vegan diet totally lacks in fat soluble Vitamins A D K, B12 Carnitine, creatine and to many peptides to mention and thats without going into the fats which are also beneficial unlike excessive oxidative plant oils.

    There are many farmers that raise organic cattle on farms that are carbon neutral through building incredible soil, thats the way it should be done.

    Low carb, high fat and carnivore diets are being used by Athletes at a growing rate. The all blacks, the South African Rugby team many long distance athletes, iron man athletes you name it.

    Biggest difference IMO your not eating shit food and your not mixing carbs, fats and protein at every meal which is digested in different mediums.

    https://www.smh.com.au/national/i-f-ing-love-meat-the-athletes-who-swear-by-the-carnivore-diet-20200604-p54zn7.html

  183. Mark King

    I forgot to mention the strength coach at Villa was trying out the carnivore diet last summer and if he found it useful he was going to get the players to use it or a version of. Unfortunately since the gyms been shut I haven’t seen the bloke that knows him.

  185. r0bb0

    Mark, you’re right that there is a huge variation in carbon produced by beef depending on ‘how’ it is produced. Carbon neutral cows could well be a thing of the future but the current problem with even the most benign beef production methods is not just the balance between the carbon the cows consume as grass and what they return to the soil as cowpats, but what happens in between. The digestive system of ruminants has the unfortunate side effect of producing large quantities of methane which has been show to absorb around 20x the infrared radiation of CO2.
    The positive thing is that methane ‘washes’ out of the atmosphere far faster than CO2 so if we could produce non belching cows then the picture for beef would look much brighter. There is really good work taking place on feeds and genetics which look likely to make this possible in the foreseeable future.
    In the meantime, my conscience doesn’t allow me to eat beef (I’ve recently, reluctantly, added farmed prawns to the no-go food list)

  186. r0bb0

    One other problem with beef and dairy production is the amount of slurry and subsequent methane that it produces. Over the past couple of years I’ve had meetings with an Oxford company that’s taking farm slurry, mixing it with other farm waste such as barley straw and then pumping flue gases from industrial units (such as power stations) through it to produce a soil improver and fertiliser. This not only utilises the slurry and farm waste, but then reduces the CO2 emitted from the industrial unit. A real win/win.
    We were testing it as a growing medium, hoping to take it to market, but although it is already working well in a farming environment we found that results were too variable for launching into the domestic market. It’s just another example of some of the really positive work that’s being done to ensure that we can have a low carbon future ‘without’ having to compromise on the things that we love.

  187. Frem

    Jaden Philogene-Bidace. Sounds like we are going to lose him to club Bruge.

    That’s worrying and sad because he’s an unbelievable talent. This might have a knock in affect with other youngsters. Doesn’t look good if one of the best young talents in England leaves us

  190. Heroes-and-Villans

    was just reading that frem about bidace.

    Its not worrying as we have been attracting loads of youth and the last 2 years have made massive strides. But yeah gutted to be losing him, why leave? He has been training with 1st team and been doing really well.

    Cant keep em all

  191. r0bb0

    part of the problem with the climate debate is that the focus tends to be on the negative, and what we have to stop doing. People don’t like to be told that they have to give things up so look for reasons why the information might be wrong.
    There’s loads of positive work going on behind the scenes though but of course it isn’t as newsworthy.
    Just taking one example, ‘Just Eat’ are converting their delivery bikes to electric, they’re also developing a seaweed based sachet to hold the sauces to replace the existing plastic ones.
    A few years ago, sustainability conferences used to attract beards and sandal wearers but now they’re full of smart clothed execs and consumer pressure is forcing all businesses to embrace sustainable practices.

  193. r0bb0

    Interesting suggestion about starting Nakamba in preference to Luiz. It’s at times like this that you don’t envy the manager having to make those decisions. . . . . . On second thoughts, I suppose as a manager you’d be delighted to have the options available!
    Luiz admitted that he didn’t have his best game last time out so maybe it’s not a bad call.

  194. r0bb0

    Mark, the information I’ve seen suggests that electric cars do indeed generate more CO2 in production but over their lifetime will generate significantly less CO2 ‘provided’ the electricity isn’t all being generated from fossil fuels. In the UK we are doing well in switching to renewables so electric cars make sense here and the government’s plan to ban the sale of petrol cars by the end of this decade whilst not building more fossil power stations will accelerate our growth of renewable energy production.

  195. Heroes-and-Villans

    robbo

    it’s just in the news today, brum mail.

    He’s contract is out in the summer and he has already been to Brugge to look around. Don’t sound good. Shame as we are really turning a corner with the youth. maybe its his agent playing hard ball!

  196. Paul Pears

    The talk about Philogen-Bidace is the usual media gossip, which does not give the full story.
    Several of these youngsters are in a similar position with contracts that have not been finalised.
    My understanding is that Jaden has been offered a new contract by Villa, but as yet he has not agreed to the terms He and his agent are probably hoping for a better deal, but he is certainly not being let go by Villa yet.

  197. Paul Pears

    MK/r0bb0,

    I am enjoying the climate debate and defer to the greater knowledge you both have , but I do agree that we can improve things greatly, and as a lover of meat, I am pleased that there is work being done to improve the role of beef cattle.
    I have never followed the vegan argument, as most of the vegans I have known, it has been about the cruelty of killing animals, rather than letting them have a peaceful life in the fields. This is of course nonsense, as if we did not kill meat for food, then there would be no animals in the fields.
    More recently, I have been watching programmes like the dirty vegan, and am tempted to try some of the great recipes which are claimed to have great value and taste.
    I did also read about the need for amino acids from meat which cannot be replaced that are crucial to our diet.

    The effects of global warming will continue unless we do more to stop countries like Brazil with their deforestation, and the huge use of fossil fuels throughout the world. This is no joke or conspiracy, but greatly concerning with the overwhelming scientific evidence. The loss of the
    coral reefs and damage to the seas is so worrying.

  198. r0bb0

    Frem, as far as I can see, at the moment, Philogene-Bidace “is on a wish list” for Bruge.
    Where have you seen that he wants to go or that we want to let him go?

  199. r0bb0

    H&V. . . . .its a bit more worrying if he’s been to Bruge to look around. Mind you. . . . .if I was his agent I might have suggested he do that to show that he ‘might’ be tempted!

  200. r0bb0

    PP, My reasons for (partial) veganism are purely based on sustainability arguments rather than animal cruelty. It is perfectly possible to gain all the necessary nutrients from a vegan diet, but it is easy to miss out on some key ones (particularly vitamin B12) if you don’t pay attention to what you’re eating.
    The first month I tried veganism I lost a little weight and felt great at the end of it, having paid close attention to make sure I was getting a fully balanced diet. The second time I went vegan for a month I was quite blase about it and ended the month feeling really tired. I can’t say that the two things were necessarily linked but then again, they might have been.
    These days I tend to do a couple of vegan days a week and have cut out certain foods completely and that way it’s easy to gain all the nutrients you need whilst at least considerably reducing your carbon footprint.
    There are loads more vegan recipes online and vegan foods in the supermarkets these days (many containing essential nutrient supplements) so it’s far easier than it used to be.

  201. r0bb0

    One nutrient that vegans do need to be careful not to miss out on is vitamin B12. Luckily I love Marmite and reckon I get close to half my required daily allowance that way, but I step up my Marmite consumption when going vegan. Non dairy milks and many cereals now include B12 supplements but it’s still worth keeping an eye on and its generally recommended that vegans supplement the B12 in their diet.
    My brother’s working with a number of Universities here and in India on a project to develop plants which will take up B12 and that has the potential to be a real game changer for non meat and dairy eaters.

  202. r0bb0

    Apparently both Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero go vegan during the playing season to maximise their playing performance but ‘relapse’ during the off season 🙂

  203. Frem

    So they have changed the rule now so Rodri would be off side when it happens again

    Unbelievable

    He was offside. Everyone knows he was

    Absolute joke

  205. Frem

    Llushe can’t play every minute and we obviously have no faith in Davis je picks up a lot of injuries to.

    I’m not sure what they are thinking.. To only have one striker is madness

  208. Plug

    I’m expecting a dirty game tomorrow night from Burnley. They get away with murder at their place. We need players who can look after themselves. Not a game for Ramsey, unless we find ourselves 0-3 up going into the last 20 mins.

    I’d be happy to see Naka in there scrapping. And SJM.

    Frem, we’ll soon see what else the EPL can serve up to screw us before changing tack.

  209. Frem

    Sanson done

    Time for a forward now

    And a back up left back

    Runtings.. But if Traore is up front then we just make our self’s worse on the right because Trezeguet is not up to standard. So it just weakens us if he’s up front. Plus we then have less depth out wide

  210. Frem

    Lingard gone to West ham

    We don’t need him now and central midfield os our strongest position, but would anyone of taken him?

    Our wide options and centre forward options should be as strong as our center midfield options. It’s mad we only have Ollie

  211. Frem

    Newcastle have 3 centre forwards and 2 wingers on the bench

    Now that’s the type of options you should have on your bench

    We are lucky to have 1 striker, the rest are defenders

    When we look at our bench we need to be able to have game changers on it

  213. Mark King

    Robbo- a lot to go at there 🙂 There is a lot of the science thrown about today that claims to be fact can’t remember if its 99% or 90% of what scientists know is wrong? but thats probably wrong too.

    On global warming I look back at the roman warm period with grapes grown in Britain then a cooler period, followed by the medieval warm period which was warmer than today and was a time of expansion in population and food etc, Then followed the little ice age 1300 to 1860 two degrees cooler than now. Seems to me that earth goes through warming and cooling cycles and nobody has ever explained why that might be apart from the sun and the odd volcano. We are about to go into a grand solar minimum so we will see if that CO2 theory holds up when the suns not there 🙂

    On Diet, we know a lot yet know nothing, I used to believe the balanced diet concept until I realised that some foods (Plants) prevent nutrients being absorbed, cooking helps to destroy some aspects of this but is mostly to make most plant foods even edible.

    Sometimes less is actually more because you expend a lot of nutrients to digest plant foods and block a lot of nutrients absorbing anyway. Meat doesn’t have that problem, About 98% absorbable nutrients vs 12% with plants and it can be eaten raw, raw plants can f you up. Meat and Organs contain pretty much all you need even Vit C. you don’t need lots of Vit c you just don’t need umpteen things blocking it, fresh meat has more than enough. Also fat is preferred to lean meats like rabbit which will make you ill over time.

    Hunter gatherer tribes preferred foods are 1 Honey, 2 Meat and organs, 3 Tubers and a few fruits, (most wild fruit have huge seeds and are bitter as hell) Plant food are considered as emergency only ( no kill) or Medicine. I think they are wiser than us.

    I think there are some fantastic farming methods out there that mix all sorts of plants and animals together as in nature, we have to use those not mono cropping to make vegan foods or feed factory pigs etc imo.

    Good on you for giving a stuff, I wish that science was more open to debate so the best ideas can be used, its become very dogmatic.

    Animals and nature who’d of thought it?

    https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/wolf-reintroduction-changes-ecosystem#:~:text=Wolves%20are%20causing%20a%20trophic,bring%20back%20aspen%2C%20and%20vegetation.

    I would not be surprised if man building everywhere is not causing a fair few problems.

  214. r0bb0

    Frem. We know you think we need another striker. How about only mentioning it if you have something new to say?

    On that point. . . you thought we could get someone for £10m. I really can’t imagine that we’d get anyone worth having for that price, especially in January.
    Maybe we could pick up someone young and untested to groom for the future. . .but to slot into the first team?

  216. r0bb0

    runtings. . .you mentioned Teixeira being linked but isn’t he nearly 30? He doesn’t seem to fit with the club strategy . . . .unless we’re throwing money around to try and get a European place and that just doesn’t feel like the way we’ll operate.
    Happy to put my hands up and say oops if we now go ahead and sign him!

  218. r0bb0

    Mark . . .likewise, a lot to go at there and I’ll only go at a couple because I’m cooking tonight (vegan chicken bacon and mushroom bake with vegan pineapple upside down pudding with custard for afters 😉 )

    Yes, the world temperature has been higher in the past. What’s different this time is the rate of change and that is absolutely critical to the whole discussion.

    Yes Honey is a prize of hunter gatherers . . . .and don’t get me started on the ‘vegans not eating honey’ discussion because, as a beekeeper myself it’s bound to wind me up 🙂

    Yes there are more absorbable nutrients in meat but the fibre in plants is what keeps our guts moving (including disposing of all the bad stuff left in our guts from the animals we’ve eaten that lead to increased cancer risk.

    finally (for now) , yes you’re right that science is all about being wrong, but the rate of global temperature change is measurable and undeniable. It’s the causes, future trends and likely impacts that can be discussed

  220. Canadian Villan

    Nice to Sanson get over the line could be useful with injuries and suspensions coming.
    So lads, I have two grand kids, they sleep over every second weekend and I love them to death, but to give up my Alberta Steak every Saturday evening and miss my Bacon butty Sunday morning not a chance. I’m old enough to remember the governments of the world pushing us to margarine then finding out we were eating plastic all but a molecule or two. I eat my fare share of meat and a little more too, but without doubt never ever without greens or a salad. Keep it balanced that’s all its about, cereal and vegetable crops did more than there fare share of pollution over the years with pesticides and fertilizers so don’t think vegans are so perfect. Anyway as my cousin in Michigan said after years on a vegetarian diet due to psoriasis, he was cured by a bacon sandwich when back to Brum to see his Mom and Dad. And by the way his psoriasis never came back. They think now it was likely the hormones and crap they used to make the meat leaner, so always go for the good stuff with at least a noticeable amount of fat marbling in it, and it tastes better to boot!!! three point tomorrow and I’ll even treat myself to a nice lobster tail with loads of butter lol.

  221. r0bb0

    Frem, I’m sure Lange does know of some well priced strikers, I just doubt that he knows of any young ones (club policy to buy players for future value) for under £10m who can slot straight into the first team and do a better job than Davis or Traore

  222. Frem

    West Ham 4th

    This is a season we need to take advantage off and go get European football

    I think our sqaud depth will let us down though

  226. r0bb0

    Canadian Villa, yup in many ways it’s easier to eat a healthy diet if you mix in some meat.
    I also love the occasional bacon sandwich.
    I don’t choose sometimes to be vegan for my health or to avoid animal cruelty, it’s purely to reduce the carbon generated as a result of what I eat.
    If I ate a British steak meal I’d have been responsible for ten times the carbon of UK chicken. If it was a Brazilian steak then up to 40x more

  227. John Clark

    Frem,

    I think Compass will take whatever the squad delivers. They’ll know as well as anyone else that depth is crucial to playing the extra games, and it’s probably financially impossible to fund that level of acquisition in one window. Europe does bring in extra money, but I think right now, this season is probably a bit surprising (pleasantly) to them, and I doubt it would change any longer-term planning. They’ll just see us as ahead of schedule.

    However, if we do end up in a particular spot, I’m sure we’ll give it a go with fingers crossed. And that will partly be down to keeping Jack. But I think if we’re in with a shout and he keeps getting attention and England call-ups, he’ll be here for another season.

    And West Ham will not finish 4th.

  228. John Clark

    That said, we’ll have a few spots we can turn over this summer with contracts running out, and maybe some players we can move (Engels, Nakamba…whoever is deemed surplus) without losing money. Luiz’s situation will be a big consideration, as will Barkley’s.

    Wesley on the books at £22m will be difficult to move. We’ll be looking for him to be completely right to start next season. Maybe he gets some minutes off the bench in April. A striker loan could always happen, but we need to do better than any Samatta deals.

  229. Frem

    John.

    If wd don’t get European football we won’t keep Grealish l, Luiz, Barkley, etc

    Not past this summer

    That’s why we have to go get 6th at least I think.. And surely the club have realised itsa mad season and 4th place in right on?

    We won’t get any better chance than this season because the big teams wonrbe thia bad again

  230. r0bb0

    Frem, Jack has indicated that he’s with us for this season and next because he believes in the ambition of the club.
    I cannot imagine that he would leave when we’ve made such huge progress in just 2 years.

    Keeping Jack is not a reason to wish for European football next year.

    I still believe we’ll be best served by not being dragged down by the Europa league next year although recent games have shown that our squad is deeper than we might have thought and a few additions in the summer just might leave us capable of fighting on more than one front next year
    (I’d still rather we did it the year after and did it properly)

  231. John Clark

    I could always be wrong, Frem, but I’m under the impression Grealish was buying into the plan, not that he was expecting European football next year. More likely, the year after. That’s when I’d think he might leave, if we don’t have it after the next season. Luiz? Who knows. Barkley? Again, he’s not ours, yet, and we may not be able to buy or be willing to meet the asking price if Chelsea do make him available.

    The big sides…I’m not so sure. Again, could be completely wrong, but I think what we’re seeing is teams catching up to them. There’s more rich owners, and without crowds, we’re seeing that the big clubs aren’t *really* that much better than anyone else. They’ve had a monopoly that might well be unsustainable. Which is why I think they’re pressing (again) for their super league, to lock in their advantage while they still can.

    I don’t know. All I know is that if Compass want to/can spend the money to secure a top 4-6 finish, they probably will. But January’s not a great time for it, as we know.

    We did do what I said we might, which is snap up a decent player for a cut price due to contract status and financial difficulties at Marseilles.

  232. John Clark

    To expand/clarify: What I’m picking up from the big clubs is that there aren’t really any easy games anymore. The gulf has narrowed, and they’re more hard-pressed to stay on top. The grind of winning the league, playing in Europe and in cups is taxing them more than it did.

    That’s why they want changes to the league and cups.

  235. r0bb0

    Having mentioned ‘individual genetic make up’ has anyone else subscribed to one of those genetic tests you can do? I had one done for Christmas and was interested to see that I’m a little bit Finnish, a little bit central European Jew, a little bit North African, a little bit Spanish and a lot English and Welsh.
    My heart jumped a little when I received a notification to say that they had found someone else with a 50% match to my genes. . . . . .happily it turned out to be the daughter that my wife and I know about!

  236. Heroes-and-Villans

    i don’t get the narrative this is the season to finish top4. The usual suspects will finish top 4 and the only swap with the elite clubs is foxes knocking arsenal out the top 6. but arsenal will prob still finish 7th. Our aim is to secure ourselves as a mid table prem team. And that would be fantastic after a decade of crap! Maybe in 3 or 4 years we can emulate the foxes and mix with the elite clubs

  237. Frem

    Not easy tonight but a game we should be winning. You know what you will get with Burnley so let’s deal with there physicality and set plays

    Our next 5 games will probably define our season. Its s run of games we should get a good return from.. If wr do Europe is well and truly on

    If we slip up away at Burnley then it probably won’t happen. We didn’t beat them at VP which is poor so we need to get the 3 points tonight

  238. Frem

    I know they will exploit our way we mark from corners. They will overloaded the back post with 4 big guys they know will be marked by Mcginn, Luiz etc, not our center backs

  239. runtings

    r0bb0 yes Teixeira doesn’t fit the age bracket for the club but he is on a free and a very good player still he turned down pool a few years back

    not sure if there is any truth in it just thought I would share the speculation

  240. r0bb0

    H&V. Agreed . . . . . . secure mid-table would be good, top half very good, top 8 excellent, top 6 unreal but providing unwanted challenges for next season, top 4 not happening.

    Frem, drawing against Burnley at Villa Park was certainly not poor, particularly when you consider that prior to last week, 68 teams in a row had gone to Anfield and failed to win there until Burnley went and did it.

    They’ve kept a clean sheet in nearly 40% of their games and there are only 3 teams who’ve had more clean sheets (we’re one of them)

    Here’s a quote from the BBC summary last time we played them:
    “In a pulsating game, Villa had 15 shots in the first half alone and twice hit the woodwork.
    Matthew Lowton denied his former club by hacking Ahmed El Mohamady’s shot off the line before Nick Pope tipped Anwar El Ghazi’s attempt on to the bar.”

    Dean Smith:
    “We had enough chances to win two games, maybe even three,” he said. “My concern is when you’re not getting chances.
    “We look like a team unlikely to concede goals as well, when you do that you’ll accumulate points.”

    And before you say it proves we need another striker. . . . .we were unlucky not to score on the day and as Dean Smith said, the real worry would be if we were not creating chances.

    and just in case you’re STILL tempted to say it, here’s another quote:
    “Pope made six saves in total with his fingertip stop to deny El Ghazi the best of the lot.
    Even at the end Jack Grealish and Tyrone Mings went close but Villa, who were averaging more than two goals per game before this, failed to score for just the second time this season.”

    Against Burnley we weren’t poor. . .we were excellent, and tonight’s game is likely to be a tough one against a physical side brimming with confidence. Do I think we can win it. . . .absolutely, but I’ve only gone for a 1-0 win this time. . . . . how do you think it’ll turn out? (here’s a clue. . . .you should go for a 5-0 win for Villa so that you can be amusingly critical when we fall short)

  241. r0bb0

    runtings, I can see the appeal of Teixiera as another option if Wesley is improving more slowly than hoped but my guess is that the instinct of the management is not to go for that sort of signing.
    I guess if it was just for the season and they already have other options lined up for Summer signings then it would be a low risk gamble though.

  242. Mark King

    Been looking at Sanson and he appears to be another ball carrying mid that can score and assist, more of a rival to Mcginn or Barkley than Luis or Marv. We are collecting ball carrying players and it seems a theme of our play. All our mids and forwards bar luis and Marv can beat a man, all our defenders are attacking to some degree and even the keeper looks to attack when he has the ball.

    We could lose Luis and Barkley in the summer regardless of league position, jack no chance. I am confident that contingency plans have been made or even upgrades. I don’t think we will sell Marv if Marv wants to stay.

    I think as usual we will pepper Burnleys goal tonight. and boss the midfield. We are better defensively than Liverpool so it will be tight unless we get lucky early on. Expecting Traore to get another lucky tap in 🙂

  243. Mark King

    Robbo- We don’t actually need Fibre to poo, in fact we don’t even need it to maintain a healthy Micro biome. The undigested meat stuck in the colon is another myth. Our stomachs have the acidity of a scavenger, more acidic than a lion say or at least should be. The modern habit of cramming 20 foods in at once and then wondering why they get wind and bloating does not help.

    I am pretty much on an all meat diet, certainly 95% animal based, I will have the odd thing the mrs cooks to keep her happy. No problems with pooping, no gas, no bloating, I can work for 12 hours and not get hungry and I work hard and I can maintain a low bodyfat and decent muscle mass without thinking about it, never could before.

  244. Mark King

    Robbo- yep the temps going up, question is why and has it always done this? I believe it has. As I said before the science is never in so claiming its the end of the world is OTT and smacks of a narrative. History teaches us that the temps gone up and down during that 1850 to modern times, there has also been a fair amount of fiddling with the data and good old scare mongering going on. We have been told that snow would be thing of the past yet we are getting record snow around the world. To much to mention really but this terrible global warming sceptic makes some very good arguments. I thought this was poignant

    “Who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past”

    George Orwell

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ3spbc_V-0

    PP- the coral reefs are not in any danger from what I have read in fact the warmer it gets the more they spread around the world, there has been some bleaching in some areas but they have recovered.

  245. runtings

    H&V I wouldn’t have expected top 4 at the beginning of the season but at the moment our form our team and the progressive we have made which is rapid puts us in with a real shout of achieving the unthinkable

    As i have said I put a bet on for us to go top for or and title … of course I got ridiculous odds but I bet you wouldn’t get great odds right now

    I think quietly the club are aim for just that you could see how important getting a result v the Manchester teams was for our players , could see the hurt in not getting the results but we ran them close without being at our seasons best in those games … lets reach for the stars , why not

  246. r0bb0

    Mark, its not so much current global temperature that matters, it’s the rate of change that is different.

    Yes there’s more snow in some parts of the world and if you’ve read as much about this as I imagine you have then you’ll know that this was predicted as a side effect decades ago. It’s one reason why the term ‘global warming’ has morphed into ‘climate change’

    I suppose the real point is what are the implications depending on which of us is wrong.

    If I’m wrong then great. . . . temperatures will continue to naturally fluctuate and life will go on.

    If you’re wrong then temperatures will continue to rise, in fact the rise will accelerate as tipping points are reached, species loss will accelerate still further and life for billions will become untenable.

    I can live with me being wrong . . . . .

  247. Heroes-and-Villans

    runtings

    yeah man reach for the top most deffo. I want to win the damn thing else whats the point. But theres a reason the elite always finish at the top! So so hard to break them. Never going to finish above man city, pool, utd, spurs, Chelsea, foxes. Its only top 5 that gets Europe I think.

  248. Heroes-and-Villans

    yeah will be tough tonight but hopefully the man Grealish can break them with his quality. He is just the player needed against them. Has been off it a bit so want to see him full throttle tonight. Burnley have score 10 goals all season. 10!! And are still clear of bottom 3. ridiculous

  249. Heroes-and-Villans

    Mark

    Was thinking the same re Sansom last night. Super John Mcguinn will be looking over his shoulder massively. Which is good cause I think he needs that. We all love him for his terrior like ways but his passing has been very loose and those goals and assists stats for him is not great at all. Which as a number 8 deano will be looking at. He could very well find himself out the starting 11 soon

  250. runtings

    Heroes I think the club are doing all the right things to break into the top 4 and be as good as any club in the lge …. I think we can do it without expecting us to I feel that I may just be picking up a nice bit of cash from the bookies at the end of the season … games like tonight’s are must wins for any chance of it actually happening

  253. Heroes-and-Villans

    thing is with biddace at least you know we will 100% be doing all the right things by him to keep him and we have the set up and personal to think he should stay. But you cant win em all if he does go

  255. r0bb0

    I’m with runtings. . . . . not only do I believe that we ‘can’ break into the top 4, I believe that we ‘will’.

    Not this year and possibly not next, but it has to be possible within the next three years.

    Man City were a smaller club than us and have managed to cement a place there now. Chelsea were also a smaller club but have been knocking around the top 4 for a while now so why not us?

    Back in Martin O’Neill days we weren’t run as well, had (to my mind) a lesser manager, and had less financial clout behind us and yet the points gap between us and the top 4 got smaller every year, until the money ran out, swiftly followed by MON.

  256. r0bb0

    H&V, what do you mean by ‘we are trending at 52 points’? If we maintain our current points per game tally we’ll end on 65 points (which would have placed us 5th last year)
    If we maintain the points per game we’ve achieved over the last 5 games we’d end on 58 points which would have left us 8th. We had a record start to the season so if you discount our current position slightly to allow for that then 7th/9th seems very achievable from where we now are.

  257. Mark King

    Robbo- They have predicted many things, dead oceans by the 70’s, new ice ages naturally by the 21st century or from dust in the air which would cause storms etc, “1978: ‘No End in Sight’ to 30-Year Cooling Trend” , No oil by ??? Famine forecast by 1975, Hole in the Ozone threat to life, (Its still there), acid Rain, Sea to sink the Maldives by 2010, Rising seas to obliterate nations by 2000, 2000: ‘Children won’t know what snow is.’ 2002 famine in ten years, Britain to be Siberian by 2004, 2008 the artic will be ice free in the summer by 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, French foreign minister in 2014 ” we have 500 days to avoid climate chaos, yadda yadda.

    I don’t know about the boy that cried wolf more like he was yodelling to the bugger, for me Robbo its more like don’t piss in my pocket and tell me its raining.

    All seems very convenient to me as the 4th industrial age is ushered in, as are many things occurring at this point.

    https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/outreach/CDPW40/CD&PW_reeves_denver.pdf

  258. Mark King

    On the final league position, truthfully I think the skys the limit, it could happen for us if we can maintain form and we have been good at that, by and large we have been consistent and we have been unlucky not to be higher up than we are quite easily.

    Final position ? top 8, where in that top 8 I have no idea, its in the lap of the gods, we are pretty much as good as any of the top 8 bar city and Liverpool if on song, which they are not.

  259. r0bb0

    Mark, yes there’s been lots of crying wolf and it really pisses me off. I understand people wanting to stir governments and individuals into action (because there’s not been enough over the past 50 years) but in the long term it’s counter productive.

    I feel the same way about the recent hand wringing and environmental group petitions over the recent relaxation of rules to allow the use of neonicotinoids for sugar beet. For too long, environmental groups have shouted about everything they’re ‘anti’ without offering enough positive alternatives. Any idiot can say “don’t do this”, the clever part is saying “do this instead”.

  260. r0bb0

    Just picking one of your ‘cry wolf’ examples though. . . . . . 40 years ago the ozone hole was expanding and was becoming a serious concern. Government action made a real difference, alternatives were found to the CFCs that were a major contributor and Gaia (for shorthand purposes) started reversing the damage.
    A positive story of how we ‘can’ make a difference when we put our minds to it.

  261. Frem

    I’d start Marvelous again tonight. We will need to win a lot of second balls tonight and Burnley knock downs

    He performed well that you can’t really drop him again

    I think maybe rest Luiz or bench Mcginn.

  263. r0bb0

    Frem, agreed about Nakamba . . . he’s earned another start and Dean Smith has hinted that McGinn may have to fight to get his place back. It’ll be interesting to see if he goes through with that. Douglas Luiz din’t have a great game last time out and was frustrated with himself. He came out and admitted it after the game which was good to see. It shows self awareness but also suggests an openness to discuss performance which I bet is a culture that Dean Smith’s encourages.
    I don’t see any indication that it was down to tiredness. Why do you think it was? The team had all had a good rest prior to the game and he’d recently missed an extra game through suspension too.
    Do we know that he was one of the ones that had suffered from covid?

  264. Mark King

    Robbo – yes I would rather we had the truth (as far as we can find it) and look for the best solution not the nearest.

    On the Ozone layer I remember that at the time a certain patent for refrigeration gas was up and a new gas brought in. The ozone layer also varies in different regions and changes over days , months , seasons etc, its not constant and is thinnest at the equator. The point is none of the horrors that it was supposed to bring happened, and it stopped before our changes were made.

    https://www.heritage.org/environment/commentary/ozone-the-hole-truth

  265. Mark King

    Robbo- liked the diet article, the only thing I could fault is that hunter gatherers of today or even last few thousand years did not have Mammoths etc to eat. most of the fauna back then were both massive and fat laden. Highly unlikely that a hunt would result in nothing ,they probably followed the herds or populations were so small and number of game so high it would be pretty easy to find lunch I’d think. When we turned up in America there were still massive herds of bison. Clearly this is not the environment we evolved in hence the loss of stature in farmers etc as population rose and food changed. .

  269. Heroes-and-Villans

    frem

    could be a good shout playing nkamba over luiz. Burnley will just launch it and nkamba can hoover up any loose second balls. reckon mcguinn will play and think he will be like a man possessed after sanson signing

  271. Heroes-and-Villans

    good bit from deano about signings. says they look at the last 3 years and they’ve had to of played at least 70mins of matches. make sure they have the legs.

    Said about the st situation and sees Watkins as more than robost enough to see us through the season

  272. Mark King

    Douglas Luis might not of had a good game because Nakamba did? they both play DM neither is really a true box to box. Might be that having the two in there cramped Luis’s style a bit, and that and he probably knows McGinns game better.

  274. r0bb0

    Mark, It’s a long time since I read anything about the ozone layer but I will now go away and take another look. I did quickly find this article and (as I like graphs showing trends) I thought that the chart showing atmospheric ozone levels was illustrative of the fact that ozone levels were falling quite sharply but leveled out and have started to climb following the Montreal protocol.
    I’m pretty sure that the ozone layer is thinnest at the poles rather than the equator though.

  276. r0bb0

    Mark, that last link is all about the polar vortex. . . . .and there was me thinking that the film ‘The day after tomorrow’ was science fiction . . . . .I didn’t realise it was a documentary!

  278. Frem

    Harsh on Marvelous. We don’t want to be a sqaud where the back up can play really well snd not get picked next game. That’s unhealthy

    Marvelous performed. Mcginn didn’t play well game before Newcastle

  279. Mark King

    Teams up and its a strong as we can put out you would think apart from the Egyptian magician Trez. No marv, Mcginn straight in , Sanson cutting up the oranges and pumping the balls up.

  280. r0bb0

    Frem, yes it does feel harsh but right now I’m not going to be double guessing the manager. It’s great that there is now genuine competition for the defensive midfield role and ‘maybe’ Sanson goes into that mix too?

  281. r0bb0

    Mark, Once you prompted me to take another look at Ozone holes I’d seen a couple of worrying articles along similar lines to that last one you’ve posted. From what I’d read it seemed that the most likely culprit was short lived compounds that may be destroying ozone at lower levels. They hadn’t been factored in before because all the concerns were focused on the long lived CFC’s that have the potential to reach the upper atmosphere and destroy Ozone there. That article you posted includes that as a possible cause, but also suggests that it may actually be down to climate change as a result of the warming atmosphere, particularly round the equator.
    Hmm. . . .back to the factor 50 and Aussie sunhat!

  282. r0bb0

    Someone on here compared the cost of BT sport to a season ticket and made it sound decent value . . . . . so on the strength of that and despite my reluctance to put money into the pockets of the operators rather than my club, I’ve justified subscribing today. Just hoping I haven’t jinxed us!

  283. Frem

    Mark l. Trezeguet doesn’t get in our best 11.

    If Burnley are going to score it will be from a corner or set play because they will take advantage of being marked by small players.

    They will overloaded the back post from corners

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